Letter: Hold the line on Pentagon spending

Monday

Feb 13, 2017 at 12:01 AMFeb 13, 2017 at 6:11 AM

I respond to the Associated Press article "Military chiefs beg for funding" in Wednesday's Dispatch. The military chiefs appeared before the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday asking it to repeal a law that strictly limits defense spending and to request an increase in their budgets by $30 billion above their current spending of more than $600 billion for fiscal year 2017. No doubt they are emboldened by recent statements by President Donald Trump supporting increases in military spending.

I find this request to be very disturbing for several reasons.

First, the United States already spends more on its military than the next nine countries combined — three to four times more than China and nine times more than Russia — according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and the International Institute for Strategic Studies. And yet $600 billion isn’t enough?

Second, a Dec. 5, 2016 Washington Post article reported that “The Pentagon has buried an initial study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget.” The study documented that the Defense Department had more than 1 million desk jobs to support 1.3 million ground troops and outlined a plan to eliminate the waste over five years.

Third, according to the New York Times article “Often-used special operations troops top casualty list” in the Feb. 5 Dispatch, it was reported that for the first time “Over the last year, Special Operations troops have died in greater numbers than have conventional troops.” Linda Robinson, a counterterrorism expert at the Rand Corp. was quoted, “We have moved out of the major combat operations business”. She went on to say, “the military has effectively outsourced rank-and-file infantry duties to local forces (in other countries).” She finds this counterterrorism model to be much more efficient. If so, why the need for even more ground troops and sophisticated, expensive equipment?

Fourth, the Wednesday AP article on funding said: “Money provided for war-fighting operations is exempt from (budget) caps.” So even if the defense budget is not increased or is even cut, our war efforts will not be abated.

Fifth, the Wednesday AP article was trimmed by The Dispatch, probably for lack of space, including the sentence: “(Rep. Mac) Thornberry (chairman of the House Armed Services Committee) says Republicans plan to rein in federal spending in other areas, such as Medicare and Medicaid, and overhauling the tax code will generate savings that can be funneled into defense.”

I am appalled the Republicans plan to put the burden of funding increases in military spending on the backs of our elderly and most vulnerable citizens who rely on Medicare and Medicaid for their very existence at a subsistence level. The Pentagon should be required to clean out the waste from its own house before looking for it elsewhere.

I urge Sens. Sherrod Brown and Rob Portman, and our entire congressional delegation, to hold the line on Pentagon spending. If they want to create jobs, then upgrade our aging infrastructure of highways, bridges, airports, railways and subways.

John LoweColumbus

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